


I Like You

by wxnpillie



Series: Songfics that are barely songfics [5]
Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Fluff, Found Family, I just like Blade Runner, I started this before Jae played it, M/M, Not linked to Detroit: Become Human, Slow Burn, Sungjin Is Whipped, That game is questionable and I want no part in it, Wonpil is an android, like at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:21:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28282350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wxnpillie/pseuds/wxnpillie
Summary: the Sci-Fi found family au where Dowoon and Brian find an android that has been thrown away while scavenging and decide to take him home. Jae fixes him up, and they name him Wonpil and welcome him into their weird little dysfunctional family.Sungjin is the most against the idea in the beginning because it could get them in a lot of trouble, but as time passes he realises Wonpil may have been exactly what had been missing from their lives.
Relationships: Kim Wonpil/Park Sungjin
Series: Songfics that are barely songfics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036980
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	I Like You

“Is anyone else starting to feel weird about this?” Jae asks, keeping his voice low to avoid rousing suspicion from anyone around them. The humming of the cars flies past outside and a distinctive grey hue covers the world around them as they huddle together in their usual booth at the back of the cafe they always hang around in when they aren’t ‘working’. Jae likes it here because they make good coffee but Brian personally likes it because it was one of the last places nearby that still has human waiters and waitresses. It's not that he has anything against the android replacements at all, it just seems a shame to tell a machine to do a job a human very easily can do. Jobs are hard enough to come by these days.

“About what?” Dowoon asks, slightly confused, looking around to make sure no one is listening. 

“You mean Wonpil, don’t you?” Sungjin asks, a frustrated look on his face. “Can we not talk about this here? Or at all?”

“I think we should talk about it though,” Brian points out.

The ceiling shakes slightly as the familiar sound of a train soars over their heads. Building a cafe directly under a station seems like a strange choice but the rent is cheap and it's not like people nowadays could afford to be picky. They could barely afford to be alive. The world is so cramped now. The richer areas of New Seoul have skyscrapers that climb miles into the atmosphere and their air is filtered and clean and you can even see the sun in the sky, even if it’s an artificial one. Here, however, on the poor side, the buildings are stacked like disorganised shoe boxes onto a shelf where there is not even close to enough room. Everything is thrown together with scrap metal so all the buildings, even the interiors, look like patch work. They do what they can with what they have. Not like there’s any kind of official health codes or regulations for them to follow anymore.

“I just feel weird about him, you know?” Jae looks around at them all, nursing his third cup of coffee in his hands, gauging their reactions. The only one he can completely predict is Sungjin’s. He knows how his friend feels about this topic. He’s made it very clear before.

“Why is it different from your arm?” Sungjin asks, folding his arms. Jae flexes the robotic limb that is fused to his flesh under his clothes. He’d lost his arm about three years ago in a night so traumatic he didn’t ever want to get into it again, but if he hadn’t been where he was at the exact time he was, Brian would be dead and he never would have been able to save Dowoon so he didn’t regret it. Fortunately he was pretty smart and had been able to modify some old parts he had lying around and make a new one. It was agonising to attach but now he could remove the hand and attach whatever tools he needs and he almost prefers it like that. Almost.

“We’re not the same, Sungjin,” Jae replies. “I’m still a person.”

“And he isn’t?” Sungjin stares him down while Brian and Dowoon watch silently, neither of them wanting to get caught in the crossfire.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Jae insists but he can tell Sungjin doesn’t believe him. He doesn't know exactly when the younger man became so attached to Wonpil. Being fond of him was one thing, being this protective was another. This feels personal.

“So what did you mean?” Sungjin asks in return, waiting for an answer. He isn’t sure what precisely he’s accusing Jae of, nor why he’s so worked up about it, but he is.

But perhaps he does know. This world they were born into is brutal. They had all encountered death more times than they could count. Brian still has fragments of bullets lodged in his shoulder that they were never able to safely remove from the same incident that had cost Jae his arm. It causes him pain every now and there’s always a dull ache in his bones that a normal 25 year old shouldn’t have but Jae is searching for a way to fix him and he swears he’s nearly there.

He thinks about Wonpil and it makes something deep within him ache. He rarely showed it, but he’d felt a connection with Wonpil from the moment they’d met. There’s something about him that is still so pure and so incredibly human and Sungjin wants- no, _needs_ to protect it.

“Sungjin, chill,” Jae says. “I just mean I was born. I have parents. It feels like we own him sometimes and it’s kinda weird. There’s something off and I’m not sure what it is.”

“We don’t though,” Dowoon finally speaks. “None of us do. He knows that.”

  
  
  


**_[10 New Earth months [approximately 7.95 Earth months] previously from present day...]_ **

****

  
  


“Holy shit. He’s waking up.”

“Told you I could get him to work. Never underestimate me.”

“Shut up, Jae.”

“Please, I am a whole genius. Look how beautiful he is.”

“Makes you wonder why someone threw him out to begin with.”

_“Systems rebooting…_

_Systems rebooting…_

_Systems rebooting..._

_Model D-6, Serial Number DS1509107, Vessel #19940828_

_All Systems Online..”_

Light is all that could be seen at first. A piercing bright light took a few seconds to get used to.

Then a face. A kind face. The face of a human with floppy blond hair and glasses.

“Can you hear me?” The face asks.

“ _Yes,_ ” an electronic voice from somewhere internal automatically replies.

There are more faces. One is much younger than the blond. He has dark wavy hair and their difference in age is apparent but he looks just as kind, if a little more reserved. One has auburn hair with a deep scar running down his left cheek and some might think he looks scary but reality is that he is so alive. Then there is a final face. This one is particularly interesting. His hair is long and brown and he looks uneasy, but his eyes look like a map of all the stars in the solar system.

“My name is Jae.” The blond reaches out a hand. “Do you have a name?”

_“I am Vessel Number 1994-“_

“No, no, no.” The man with auburn hair laughs, but the emotions in his voice did not register as negative. His tone is lighthearted, playful even. “What is your _name?_ My name is Brian and this amazing man to my right is Dowoon. Do you remember anything?”

Brian wraps an arm loosely around Dowoon’s shoulders and stares at the Android who had just activated and watches as he tilts his head in confusion, blinking and looking at him.

~

For the sake of clarity and context, Brian, Jae and Sungjin’s way of life was… not legal so to speak. They didn’t have single job titles, they just did things here and there. Mostly rebuilding and repairing things for people. Jae had a particular knack for it. Dowoon came into their lives a few years ago after they rescued him from some business in the underground markets that would’ve gotten him killed eventually. It had never been his choice and it was very much illegal and he’d wanted out and they’d been able to get him out. After that, he had been a sort of apprentice to the three men. It was much messier than it sounds and there are still people looking for him to this day, but for now things are calm.

They’d dealt with android parts before, even repaired a couple of full droids for clients, but they mainly stuck to weapon maintenance and modification. That sort of thing. Sungjin warned Jae repeatedly that tampering with weapons that were officially registered by the government was a felony and would only end badly for all of them, but Jae ignored him and so Sungjin had no choice but to cover for him. But when Dowoon and Brian were out scavenging one day and they found almost a full body, there was no way they could just leave it there for the rain to rot away at its joints and destroy it for good. Best case scenario, they could fix it. If not, they could just strip it for parts.

It had been missing a leg and part of a shoulder, but more disturbingly, there was a bullet hole right through the side of its head. It was only so disturbing because it was a much newer model. This kind looked and felt basically completely human. Its face was young, younger than all of them except perhaps Dowoon. It had sharp features and piercing eyes and neither Brian could figure out why it had just been left to rust in some landfill as if it was common garbage. These things cost upwards of a million credits. The more human it looked, the more it cost.

Jae hadn’t been too happy when they’d brought it back but he was far more curious than anything else.

“You see this logo right here?” He’d asked them, pointing to a round, planet shaped logo that had the word _JYP_ written on top of it which had been branded into the back of the android’s neck, right next to where the charging cables would be plugged in. “This is a government bot. A pretty important one too, judging by how real it looks. We’re all dead if we get caught with this. You know that right?”

“We’re worse than dead,” Sungjin had said from the doorway, beyond the point of feeling angry anymore. He knew he’d signed his death certificate the moment he’d become Jae’s friend so there was no point even attempting to protest anymore. “We’ll be wiped off the face of the planet. Like we never existed in the first place.”

“Reckon you can fix it?” Brian had asked Jae and he had immediately grinned back at him.

“Fuck it. We’re all gonna die young, aren’t we? Of course I can fix it.”

~

Which is how they had gotten here, facing the patched up, government android they’d technically stolen which now is staring back at them.

_“I do not believe I have a name_ ,” the android says, scanning the room. _“My memory bank seems to be gone. I cannot detect it.”_

“Not gone,” Jae tells him. “Replaced. A few main parts at least. It was completely destroyed. The bullet shattered it. Whoever wanted you gone really wanted to make sure you didn’t remember anything.”

The android looks at him blankly. _“I am programmed as a carer but that is all I can recall. Who are you and why am I here?”_

“We found you on the outskirts of the city.” Brian gives him a sympathetic look. Now that he is conscious, his harsh features are so much softer. He just looks so innocent. It's sort of heartbreaking. His eyes were so big and round and he was much smaller than the rest of them were, almost delicate looking. Brian knows better than to assume that though. This thing could kill them all in a matter of seconds if he was programmed ever so slightly differently.

“He needs a name,” Dowoon insists, looking around at them all like it was the most important thing in the world.

“Well, we found him in the Itaewon district. What about Taehyung? Taehyun?” Brian suggests but Sungjin shakes his head.

“We know people called that,” he points out.

“ _Do you also not have a name?_ ” The android suddenly asks, looking right at Sungjin, a curious look in his doe-like eyes. Sungjin is slightly taken by surprise because he is looking at him almost like he’s excited he might have found someone who has something in common.

“Wha- no, I’m-” the android’s gaze is so intense Sungjin actually feels intimidated by him but he cannot place why exactly. “I do.”

“Sorry about him.” Jae walks over and claps Sungjin on the shoulder. “This is Sungjin.”

_“Sung… jin..”_ Wonpil repeats the syllables carefully. _“You have beautiful eyes, Sungjin.”_

Sungjin’s head just about explodes on the spot. The other three men start laughing as they see how wide his eyes are and how red his ears are.

“Where the hell did that come from?” Jae asks, still laughing his ass off.

“ _I am programmed as a carer, as I have told you. Part of my programming is to read the mood of my patients and administer the appropriate aid,”_ the android explains to them. _“I detected that Sungjin’s mood was lower than the rest of the inhabitants of the room and so I attempted to help. I may need to recalibrate however and I will need to relearn from my surroundings to adjust completely, however my readings indicate that I was successful in increasing Sungjin’s mood.”_

Sungjin feels absolutely mortified as Brian starts wolf-whistling at him and Jae doubles over with laughter.

“Oh my god.” Jae finds he actually has to wipe tears from his eyes and his stomach hurts from laughing. “I love you already, dude. I think you broke Sungjin.”

Sungjin just hides his face in his hands. He is absolutely doomed.

_“I broke him?”_ The android’s expression immediately turns to one of urgency and concern and he tries to stand up and attempt to help Sungjin again before Jae stops him. 

“No, no, that was just a joke,” Jae reassures him, walking over to him and hopping up onto the metal table he’d previously been charging on to sit next to wear he was standing. “We just mean you made him feel a little embarrassed. In a good way. We can teach you about jokes and stuff like that if you need us to.”

_“I would deeply appreciate that, Jae.”_ The android smiles for the first time, looking right at Jae and it was a dazzlingly bright smile. 

“So you really just exist to look after people?” Brian asks, his arm still around Dowoon.

_“That is certainly my primary function, yes,”_ the android nods.

“We hit the jackpot,” Jae says with a smile, hugging the android around the shoulders. “Our very own happy pill. I think you’re gonna fit in just fine. We’ve been lacking serotonin around here for quite a while.”

_“I am not sure I will be able to adjust your levels of neurotransmitters without the proper resources,”_ the android answered bluntly, missing the joke again. _“But I am able to do full check-ups and x rays. I can also notify you of disease or chemical imbalances and diagnose any mental illness. I will also be able to treat you, but I am not programmed to perform brain surgery. That is above my skill level.”_

“God damn,” Brian mutters under his breath, exchanging a surprised look with Jae. “You’re kind of a badass, dude.”

The android tilts his head again, clearly something he does when he doesn’t understand and looks as if he is about to ask another question before he is interrupted. 

“Wonpil!” Dowoon suddenly exclaims and they all stare at him, making his ears turn bright red. “I mean- like for a name. I heard it somewhere and I just thought… you said he was a happy pill and…”

“Wonpil,” Jae repeats, smiling. “It suits him.”

“What do you think?” Brian asks the android, who smiles cheerfully at him, clearly his natural expression.

_“If that is what you wish to call me, then I also like it,”_ the android- or _Wonpil_ replies.

“What about you, Sungjin? You’ve been pretty quiet,” Jae teases, grabbing Wonpil by the shoulders and hugging him from behind while giving Sungjin a puppy dog stare. “Look how cute he is. Don’t you think Wonpil suits him?”

Sungjin glares daggers at Jae and wishes they were real daggers.

_“I sense you are distressed again, Sungjin,”_ Wonpil observes. _“Is there any way you would like me to assist you?”_

Sungjin stares at him blankly, unsure of what to answer with because this android seems insistent on outing his emotions to the entire room and he’d only been active for about three minutes.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you,” he settles on saying, ignoring Jae and Brian’s quiet laughter, and he means it when he says thank you because he knows Wonpil is only trying to help. “I think Wonpil sounds nice.”

Wonpil smiles politely at him but just for a second, Sungjin sees something real behind his eyes. Then it is gone as fast it appears.

**_[9 New Earth months previously from present day...]_ **

The flaws in Wonpil’s system are apparent almost right away, although the nature of it being viewed as a ‘flaw’ is debatable. He is not quite as robotic as he ought to be. When he allows Jae to open his circuits and analyse them, Jae can see nothing wrong with his software, but the thing about these newer androids is they glitched sometimes. They were modelled too closely after humans and so because of that had the tendency to become more like them. 

“The carer androids are disposed of at a higher rate than any other,” Dowoon tells them one night when Wonpil isn’t around to overhear them. “Their empathy levels are set at a much higher level and sometimes that tips over and they become self-aware and are able to think for themselves. That was probably why Wonpil was disposed of. His memory might be gone but if nothing else was damaged, those ‘flaws’ are probably still inside him.”

“How do you know so much about this?” Brian asks him and Dowoon’s gaze falls to the floor.

“When you work… _below_ … you meet all kinds of people. You pick up things,” Dowoon tells him in response, slightly ashamed of the memories. Sungjin puts a hand on his shoulder to reassure him that it was alright. They all have things in their pasts they would rather not relive. “I saw quite a few government employees. They mentioned some stuff about an outburst in one of the children’s wards of a hospital in Gangnam District. This was a few years ago so Wonpil can’t have been involved, but they had to dispose of every single droid assigned to that section because something happened with the kids. I think they were protecting them from something but I never found out what. Someone said it happens with the carers all the time to the point that they’re almost disposable because no one can control them.”

“You’ve never told us this before,” Jae points out, his voice calm if only a little surprised and Dowoon becomes shyer than he already is. “Why?”

“Didn’t seem important,” he shrugs.

“Okay but this doesn’t explain why he was shot.” Brian looks around at them all. “Woonie, you saw it. Androids are deactivated and incinerated when they malfunction. Someone took the time to murder him and then dump the body like he wasn’t even worth putting through the official disposal process.”

“There’s a cheery thought,” Jae laughs bitterly at the idea. “You’re right though. It was violent. There was a whole chunk missing from his head that I had to patch up. He has healed it by now but he must’ve been a serious pain in someone’s ass to end up like that.”

“Is there no way we can find out?” Sungjin asks him but Jae just shakes his head.

“Only way we could find out would be to just ask him,” he explains. “But his past memories are gone. It's not like a human with amnesia. He can’t remember them over time. When we fixed him, he became a completely blank slate. He has the intelligence and maturity of an adult but he needs to relearn any other skills he might’ve had before outside of his primary functions. He’d only become whoever he was before if there was a backup of his memories somewhere but even I’m not dumb enough to try and track and hack into anywhere to find them. We’d get caught instantly. We’re on our own.”

“He really fits in, doesn’t he?” Brian smiles as he speaks. “Like he was always meant to be here.”

“You’re so right,” Jae agrees. “He’s learning so fast too.”

_“Excuse me?”_ A polite voice interrupts. The four men look up to see Wonpil in the doorway. _“I apologise for the disturbance.”_

“You’re never a disturbance,” Brian insists. “Is something wrong?”

_“I am not sure,_ ” Wonpil answers. _“There is something going on outside and I cannot identify what it is. Something falling from the sky.”_

They all exchange a confused look with each other, before allowing Wonpil to lead them away to the window of their shared apartment which shows a view of the street outside, illuminated by the artificial orange street lights.

“Oh my god,” Jae exclaims and Brian actually gasps as they all stop in front of the window.

_“Is this something to be concerned about?”_ Wonpil looks at Sungjin for an explanation, who happens to be nearest to him.

“Not at all,” Sungjin assures him, staring in awe at the white flakes falling outside. “It’s actually snowing.”

“Its a type of weather,” Jae tells him, as Dowoon and Brian rush past them to grab coats and throw the door open to go out and get a closer look. “Its like rain but frozen. Our atmosphere is so polluted it rarely ever snows anymore. I’ve seen it once in my whole life.”

_“This is good, then,”_ Wonpil concludes. _“Snow is good.”_

“It definitely is,” Jae agrees, a wide smile on his face, walking over to the open door and stepping out, not bothering with a coat, Sungjin following behind.

Wonpil follows but remains in the doorway, watching them all but not setting a foot outdoors.

Sungjin notices while Jae, Brian and Dowoon are distracted by collecting snow off the ground, which was already quite thick due to how heavily it was falling, and hurling balls of it at each other’s heads.

“Why aren’t you coming out?” He asks him. Wonpil smiles at him as he always does and that is yet again when Sungjin sees something else behind his eyes this time. The slightest flicker of sadness.

_“I was specifically instructed to never go outside the premises because it would be dangerous if I were to be seen,”_ Wonpil answers him and Sungjin just scoffs, holding out his hand.

“The CCTV cameras down here haven’t worked for decades,” he insists. “It won’t hurt for you to be here for a few minutes. Come on.”

Wonpil looks at the hand cautiously, before he reaches out and grasps it with his own. He puts one foot outside, slowly followed by the other, hearing the muffled sound of snow under his feet. He lifts up one foot and looks up at Sungjin in surprise at the imprint of his foot which is left on the ground. Sungjin can’t stop himself from smiling. Wonpil really reminds him of a puppy sometimes. His innocence would be endearing to even the coldest person on earth.

Wonpil doesn’t let go of Sungjin’s hand. His logic is Sungjin is the one who told him it would be safe, therefore he should stay with him at all times for guidance. He doesn’t completely understand the feelings he is beginning to have at the point in time. He doesn’t understand feelings at all.

“It’s pretty isn’t it?” Sungjin looks up into the pitch-black sky, subconsciously tightening his hold on Wonpil’s hand.

Wonpil blinks at Sungjin, observing the snowflakes landing on his dark hair, more concentrated on the man beside him than what was going on around them.

_“Your heart is racing. Is everything alright, Sungjin?_

The question comes out of absolutely nowhere and Sungjin finds he can’t quite catch his breath.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just-“ he stammers, feeling how hot his face was, despite how cold it is outside. Wonpil just watches him with those ever entrancing eyes Sungjin has found himself completely powerless against from the day they first met. “I’m fine.”

Sungjin isn’t sure what’s wrong with him. Jae has a suspicion as he temporarily stops shovelling snow down Dowoon’s neck to look at the two of them, and he’s happy for them both. Sungjin will figure it out eventually.

  
  


**_[4 New Earth months previously from present day...]_ **

  
  


These moments between the two of them never stop. Wonpil only gets smarter and more aware as time progresses making him more able to handle them and, as far as they know, no one knows he’s there. He’s remarkably quick and knows how to hide if he needs to, but his blindspot is Sungjin. Something feels different about him but he hasn’t completely grasped the nuances of human emotions yet. He knows he feels them and that they only feel stronger and stronger with each day. He also knows he shouldn’t feel them but he does, but all of his friends insist that it's a good thing.

He understands friends too and knows he has some. Some extremely good ones. He may not know any other humans, but he cannot possibly visualise any other humans on this earth or on any of the sub-earths that are as special as his.

Jae has taken great pride in showing him all kinds of human entertainment. He finds movies wonderful and online gaming is confusing, but he likes music more than anything. All too often he catches the men singing around the apartment when they feel like no one is listening. Brian has played all kinds of songs for him and he has loved every single one. He doesn’t know how the humans were able to discover music but he is so glad they did.

He also loves the different kinds of weather. In some ways, it isn’t so dissimilar to music. Snow is silent, but rain is not. It batters down on the roofs and the tapping on the metal sounds like music to him. He has a habit of standing by the window with it opened ever so slightly whenever it rains heavily just so he can listen to it.

The others have walked in on him quite a few times and find it incredibly sweet but they don’t completely understand what he finds so interesting. They know the rain is acid rain nine times out of ten and they already felt like they were drowning without needing any help, so they just leave him to it.

Sungjin understands it.

He ignores it the first time he catches Wonpil doing it, but the second time he decides to join him.

_“Does it not sound beautiful to you?”_ Wonpil looks at him with a smile. His smiles have started showing in his eyes now and Sungjin can tell he actually feels them now.

“It certainly used to,” Sungjin answers. 

_“I cannot understand where it comes from. Dowoon explained what it is but did not say why it comes,”_ Wonpil tells him, pressing a hand against the glass. 

It’s moments like this that make Sungjin’s chest hurt, but it’s a good hurt. Wonpil is brilliant. Truly brilliant. By now, they’ve seen him demonstrate levels of medical knowledge they could never comprehend in a billion lifetimes and yet it's his moments of complete childlike wonder that have Sungjin truly smitten, except he doesn’t realise until precisely then that that is what the feeling is.

_“Do you think I am broken?”_ The question snaps Sungjin out of his thoughts immediately and he frowns at Wonpil, a little taken aback by the suddenness of it. Wonpil looks at the puddles on the ground outside, his smile faltering a little. _“The others insist I am not but I trust you to tell me the truth. Do you think there is something wrong with me?”_

Sungjin carefully considers his words before he answers. “I think we are all a little broken. It isn’t a bad thing. It just gives us something in common. We are all tied together by all the little broken pieces of ourselves that get lost or left behind on the paths we take to get to where we are now. I like you the way you are. The parts about yourself that you might think are broken or don’t work just make you unique. No one ever turns out how they are expected to, but that's part of the beauty of it all, isn’t it? How unpredictable everything is.”

Unsure of himself, he reaches out and puts a hand on Wonpil’s shoulder, feeling the buzz of electricity under his hand.

“I think you were always meant to be with us,” he tells him and he means it. “I’m glad you are.”

~

Sungjin stares into the mirror in his bathroom, gripping the edges of the sink so tightly his knuckles turn white.

The clock in his room reads 2:15am. Normally he would have slept hours ago, but his conversation with Wonpil earlier replays in his head over and over.

He knows how he feels now. It should have been clear to him months ago but he understands and he’s so conflicted.

He likes him. In _that_ way. He hasn’t even felt this strongly about any past relationship he had ever attempted.

Is it morally right to act on anything? Surely not, right? Wonpil is still so naive and it seems exploitative to try and pursue anything with him. He wouldn’t even consider it. Not for a long time.

But still… the feelings themselves were fine. He likes how he feels around the android. It isn’t something he’s ever felt before. It's like there's a little more colour in his monochromatic world now.

“Enough,” Sungjin mutters to himself, running a stressed hand through his hair, exiting the bathroom and flipping the lights off, choosing to resign himself to sleep instead of brooding in the mirror like a true dystopian archetype. He could process these thoughts in the morning. Or never. 

**_[Present day...]_ **

  
  


Sungjin is not good with his feelings. That has been more than established. Either he is direct with them or he does what he can to ignore them. Until now his feelings for Wonpil have manifested themselves in fleeting moments of ‘conversational intimacy’, which is an actual phrase that came into his head at one point despite how joyless and cold it sounds (it's just Sungjin speak for ‘deep chats’), and sporadic outbursts of defensiveness when anyone, no matter who, has the audacity to underestimate or patronise Wonpil, or any android in general. He scarcely sees a single difference between himself and Wonpil nowadays, other than obvious superficial ones. Wonpil’s social skills need some polishing but all the pieces are there and are falling into place as time progresses. There are even times Sungjin finds himself forgetting Wonpil is not human sometimes in their day to day lives. He has picked up tiny mannerisms from the people around him and from shows and movies that are just so uniquely human and it is all so natural. It can’t be programming. It’s real, authentic human impulses and habits.

Jae’s conversation at the cafe today had been just that. A conversation. A passing thought he’d wanted to vocalise. Sungjin hadn’t needed to react the way he had and he knows that. In fact he was just on his way to apologise to him when he found himself face to face with Wonpil himself as he cut through the kitchen on the way to the workshop.

_“Sungjin.”_ Wonpil smiles like he’s happy to see him and there is so much emotion behind his eyes now. _“I was looking for you. Would I be able to speak to you about something? Brian and Dowoon went out earlier and Jae seems busy so I thought now might be an appropriate time.”_

“Uh… yeah. Yeah of course.” Sungjin closes the door to the kitchen and turns to face Wonpil, a little nervous as to where this conversation might be going. Wonpil has never pulled him aside like this before.

_“I have been experiencing something recently. It has been there for the past few months but it is much more intense lately,”_ is how Wonpil begins and Sungjin can tell by his expression that he is deep in thought. _“I needed to ask you something to confirm something I have been wondering about.”_

Wonpil looks right at him then and Sungjin finds himself breathless once again. Every time he meets eyes with the android he feels like he is staring straight through him.

_“From the moment Jae restored my parts and I woke up here, you have always been nervous around me,”_ Wonpil states simply as if it is no big deal at all. Sungjin tries to keep a neutral expression but his heart is pounding and he knows Wonpil hears it. _“Yet at the same time, your emotions are positive. These two things should not work together and yet they do. Why?”_

Sungjin just cracks. He can’t take it anymore and just breaks apart.

“How can you not see what you’re doing to me, Wonpil?” He breathes, staring at Wonpil in absolute disbelief.

Wonpil steps impossibly closer to him as he has no concept of personal space, till there is barely half a foot between them, blinking at him with those big, innocent eyes as if he is still somehow completely oblivious.

_“What am I doing to you, Sungjin?”_ He asks, his voice genuinely concerned. _“Am I hurting you?”_

Sungjin shakes his head, smiling as he resigns himself to his feelings. “No. Not at all.”

Wonpil tilts his head like a puppy, as he so often does, _“Am I making you uncomfortable then?”_

Sungjin reaches out and cups Wonpil’s cheeks, an action he has never taken before, and as he does, Wonpil’s pupils dilate and his body seems to buzz with energy. He flinches back slightly as if he’d been shocked. Sungjin immediately pulls his hands back, backing away from him.

“Sorry- that was- I was just.” He awkwardly steps back from Wonpil, turning to try and leave before a hand grasps his wrist. He looks back in surprise, only to see Wonpil looking as taken aback as he feels.

“ _I’m sorry_ ,” Wonpil says, staring at his own hand before slowly releasing his hold on Sungjin, flexing his fingers as if he isn’t sure if it is even his hand or not. “ _Would_...”

Wonpil trails off, voice filled with uncertainty, an emotion he’s never quite voiced out loud before. 

“ _Would you be able to do that again?_ ” He finally asks.

Sungjin clears his throat nervously, not happy that he is never truly able to hide how he feels because Wonpil just automatically reads him and yet happier than he has ever been at the same time. He also finds himself unable to deny Wonpil anything he asks of him.

“Yeah. Of course.”

Sungjin holds Wonpil’s face again and the android’s eyes flutter shut, leaning into the touch as Sungjin caresses his cheeks with the soft pads of his thumbs.

_“I don’t understand,”_ Wonpil utters softly, opening his eyes and fixing them on Sungjin. He looked so vulnerable right now. _“What is this? Why can I-?”_

He can’t finish his own sentence.

_“I feel weird,”_ he says finally. _“It’s weird enough that I feel anything at all but what is this?”_

“Describe it for me,” Sungjin suggests, beginning to run a hand through Wonpil’s hair. 

_“When you touched me, I felt something strange. It was like you burned or shocked me, but it didn’t feel bad.”_ Wonpil still lacks the ability to experience embarrassment so his complete honesty was almost jarring. _“I have... been feeling these sorts of things for a while. I always notice your heart rate constantly spikes when I’m near to you, and I still cannot figure out why, but when I am around you, I feel things. I don’t know what the emotions are exactly, but they’re good ones. I feel good things when you’re close to me and when you are far away I can feel that too, and it’s unpleasant. I miss your presence. I feel good things towards the others but it’s a different feeling with you and I am not sure why.”_

He pauses for a moment to reorder his thoughts before continuing.

_“What you’re doing- I have seen a lot of movies with Jaehyung, and I understand the nature of these actions so my question would be why? I know you are someone who is not fond of being openly affectionate, so why are you with me? And why like this? Why me? You know I am not human.”_

“I think you’re extremely human,” Sungjin promises him. “And I don’t feel as awkward being affectionate around you, I guess.”

_“I don’t completely understand all of these feelings, but I do believe my feelings are the same as the ones you have.”_

Wonpil smiles ever so gently as the words leave his lips and it just makes Sungjin’s heart melt.

_“I am honoured that you see me as someone who you can be more open around_ ,” he tells him and he sounds and looks so sincere as he says it. _“What did you mean when you said I was human though?”_

Sungjin hums softly, stroking the hair off Wonpil’s forehead. “I think the things that make us truly human are not physical things. Okay, so you’re not officially a human being, but you have humanity. You’re kind and you care about people. You look out for them, and it’s not because you’re programmed to do it. You think for yourself. You have more empathy than anyone I’ve ever met. There are some humans who don’t have any at all, so in my eyes, you’re more human than a lot of humans.”

Wonpil’s cheeks turns the lightest shade of pink, and Sungjin hadn’t even known that androids could blush before that moment. He lets go of his hold on Wonpil, smiling at the tiny pout that appears on his face. 

_“Do you mind if I try something, Sungjin?”_

“Go for it,” he says.

Wonpil reaches a tentative hand out, clearly unsure in his actions. Slowly, he reaches up and strokes the hair out of Sungjin’s face, running his hand down the side of his face to cup his cheek, stroking his thumb along his cheekbone. His eyes follow the path of his hand as he does, and Sungjin realises just how screwed he is at that moment. He sure could not move on from this. This is most definitely a turning point in his relationship with Wonpil.

_“I’ve seen people do this in movies but I don’t know if I did it right,”_ Wonpil admits, looking down at Sungjin’s chest. _“Your heart rate accelerated again. Is that good?”_

Sungjin grabs Wonpil’s other hand, pulling it up and putting on his chest, right over his heart, holding onto his hand tightly.

“You did it right,” Sungjin promises, one of the first of many promises. 

Wonpil doesn’t need to touch Sungjin to hear the fast thrum of his heart, but he can feel it under his fingertips and it is almost overwhelming. The intensity of that emotion feels strong enough to power Wonpil for thousands of years. Sungjin tightens his grip on Wonpil’s hand and Wonpil feels his own metal heart clench at the sight of him smiling. He trusts him with his life. 

There’s a lot they don’t know about Wonpil, they being Sungjin, Jae, Dowoon and Brian. There is so much Wonpil didn’t yet know about himself. But with Sungjin, he doesn’t feel as if he has to worry about it so much. He knows, with the people who had taken him in, repaired him and given him a home, whatever the future may hold for him, it would all be okay. Standing in that kitchen and with static noise of the outside world creeping in through the open window, the distant smell of smog in the air, Wonpil finally feels part of it. This world the humans have created, however dirty and imperfect it may be. He feels like he belongs in it.


End file.
